Thursday, 13 March 2014

We,
Peoples Vigilance Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR)( an initiative of Jan Mitra
Nyas) in India, desiring that State embodies the aspirations of the People,
aver the need for greater efforts for promoting the sovereignty of the People
through democratic values and structures based on nonviolence and justice.

We
uphold social democracy and economic equity through sustainable development.

We
advocate optimum and equitable utilization of resources for the benefit of the
people, providing them adequate forum to influence and participate in decisions
on natural resource use and management.

We reaffirm
the inalienable right of the People of India to basic needs including food,
clothing, shelter, health, education, social security and productive work as
dignity of labour.

Democracy

We
cherish and uphold the Rule of Law, sovereignty of the people, a system of
governance that ensures devolution of power, People's right to self-rule and
control over natural resources.

We
advocate full independence of the judiciary, adhering to internationally
recognized values and principles. People beneficial law making process has to
be participatory, representative and fully transparent.

We
believe that People have sovereign rights to take decisions on matters
concerning their lives, and urge periodic review of all international
commitments and national laws to enable people to exercise sovereignty.

We
maintain that governance improvements have to begin and end with the People and
that their empowerment can result only when power is devolved through effective
structural changes in character of Shraman Culture[i] (culture of
inclusiveness) based on justice, nonviolence and rule of law.

We also
maintain that existing social, economic and political imbalances hinder nation-
state building and that the legislature, executive and the judiciary must be
fully accountable to the People.

We uphold the
information right to people through participation in decision-making and
governance.

To organize a non-violence
force in against and oppose the attempt of the
Saffron brigade to saffronise the rainbow culture of the country. We strongly
support the pluralism of our Nation and are determined not to allow anyone to
destroy the pluralistic atmosphere of the country.

Fight State and
non-state actors' suppression on the right to
expression with democratic mind-set to put them right.

Equal, Secular, Free
Compulsory elementary education is the
responsibility of the government and the gimmicks with education should be
stopped.

Struggle to
enact the anti- torture legislation and to ratify the UN convention against
torture by India.

Discrimination

We
affirm that discrimination based on gender, caste, creed, religion, ethnicity
and disability is a major obstacle to meaningful participation of People in
political, economic and social field.

We call
for patriarchy-free secular India, and support the individual's right to
self-determination and development and uphold their duty to national
integration.

Demand laws and their
enforcement in regard to bonded labour,child labor ,
sexual harassment, discrimination based on caste & gender and attack on
minority.

We
resolve for an immediate and effective end to untouchability, the worst form of
discrimination and demand interventions as follows to take in politics:

Programs for the uplift of the Dalits and
mechanisms to empower them for defend their rights.

Reservations(affirmative action), in public as well
as the private sector, to ensure participation of all at all levels starting from
primary schooling and across all spheres of life.

Reservations to enable at least 33% representation
of women in all spheres of private and public life.

We
believe the right to food is a fundamental right and must be assured through
guarantees to equality in work, justice, uniform minimum wages and land reform.

We
advocate that all aid and trade agreements and legal instruments be subject to
public scrutiny to ensure their transparency and accountability.

Demand National law for
landless agricultural laborers and domestic workers as
skill workers.

Ensure purchase of
weavers and farmers produce while the 'Public distribution
System' prices should be brought at half of present process.

Provide homes to the
homeless and provide shelter to the homeless in urban
areas.

Rule of law:

The human rights situation in Indian states the PVCHR noted that increasing police
power coupled with flourishing feudal social structure in Uttar Pradesh, a vast
majority is oppressed on various grounds such as class, caste and gender. Gap
is widening between people and police who lacks accountability as a result the
victims of police harassment and torture do not get justice.

Police accountability mechanism should be developed and strengthened in order to
establish the rule of law.

The absence of proper police
accountability promotes crime incidents, communal
riots and contributes to public sense of insecurity. Accountability based
policing system can put a check on the institutional discrimination.

There
should be defined provisions for reparation. Compensation is hardly paid to
victims of police accesses. Because nobody is paid and no one pays and
therefore police feels free to act in an undemocratic manner. It is therefore
required that a compensatory mechanism should be evolved with international
standards under which victims of police atrocities and communal onslaughts can
be rehabilitated in a place of his or her choice with same economic standards.

Police should be sensitized to respect diverse cultures, traditions and religions.
Police personnel should be given on-job training for this purpose and they
should also be sensitized towards the culture of human rights.More often police
action in any incident is found to be one sided. There is a need to clearly
identify the aggressor and the aggrieved. No attempt should be made to target a
person belonging to a particular religious community specially the Muslim
minority without credible evidences. Indian Police have pre-conceived notions
about the Muslims, for instance the notion that Muslim is one such community
that is always involved in instigating riots and so on. This mentality provides
the space and opportunity to the lower level police officials to act
arbitrarily. Such tendency and practice gets further encouragement due to
negligence shown by the senior level officers.

For an independent and unbiased
functioning of the police, it is
highly essential that people from all communities, faith and religion should be
recruited in the force. Steps should be taken to develop spirit of secularism
among police personnel. A secular police force is crucial for a country which
is diverse in culture. Some lessons can be drawn from developed western
nations.

Police administration should strictly follow the reformatory steps suggested by
various police reform commissions from time to time and the guidelines provided
by the Supreme Court of India. Indian police structure is the by-product of
British colonial model which needs transformation.

Cases related to death in police custody and death in encounter against the
concerned police officials should be registered and investigated in the same
manner as it is done in cases related to ordinary citizens who attempt to kill
or who has killed someone in self defense. In addition, the responsibility to
investigate cases related to death in police custody should be entrusted to an
independent and impartial agency.

Court proceedings are a lengthy process which takes many years to ensure
justice for the victim. Legal provisions with regards to police custody during
the trial period should be clearly defined. Judicial magistrates or judges
should be held responsible for not following the due process of law or ignoring
the legal process.

Police complaint committees should be officially formed at the district levels which
should function as per the guidelines suggested by the police commissions from
time to time.

In
mostly states of India, police
administration there is a common practice of giving out of turn promotions
to police officials on the basis of their work performance, this practice
should be immediately stopped. The practice has contributed to the culture of
false police encounters.

Grievance Redressal Mechanism of State
Human Rights Commission should be
further strengthened. There should be an impartial body with sufficient man
power to investigate the cases of human rights violations.

In
cases related to police torture, use of
Right to Information Act should be promoted.

Supreme
Court of India’s guidelines with regard to bail
procedure should be strictly followed. This can help in proving speedy
justice to the cases related to arrest and disappearance. This will also help
minimize the cases of human rights violations.

In
general there is a practice when some people are arrested on the basis of mere
suspicion; they are presented before the media during press briefings of senior
police officials as a mark of good work by the police. Photographs of such
accused are immediately published by the media. But when they are declared
innocent and freed, they generally do not figure in media reports. This
practice should be immediately stopped.

People
should not expect police to achieve more than they can do as per their
capabilities. This tendency compels police administration to use illegal methods
and practices to achieve desired results.

In
sum, PVCHR noted that increasing incidences of human rights violations are a
matter of serious concern for Indian society and democracy as a whole. There is
a need to reform the functioning of police and improve its image so that faith
of the victims and people can be re-established on the justice system in the
country.